TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's fabless chipmaker MediaTek and Inmarsat on Wednesday (April 12) announced that they are expanding their partnership in order to bring two-way satellite services to smartphones, IoT devices, vehicles, and other industries.

The two companies are working on enabling mobile operators, smartphone and other device makers to offer satellite services, such as two-way text messaging, emergency communications, device tracking and monitoring, among other capabilities, without the need for pointing on most devices.

The partnership will use 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) standards, existing chip sets, and global satellite infrastructure to speed up the introduction of new NTN services. MediaTek and Inmarsat have carried out in-orbit two-way communications trials over the past three years to show the effectiveness of applications.

MediaTek’s chipsets and Inmarsat’s L-band network are being trialed by network operators and device manufacturers for direct-to-device, two-way satellite connectivity. The memorandum of understanding inked by the two companies extends their existing partnership and covers joint technology innovation and the commercial release of satellite-enabled devices.